Mortal Shell 2: How to Get and Use the Citadel Gate Lever

The main gate to the Citadel of Penance in Mortal Shell 2 stays sealed until you find the part that operates it. The Citadel Gate Lever is that missing piece. It drops from a mini-boss hidden in a ravine, and once you slot it into the mechanism beside the gate, the Citadel opens permanently.

Quick answer: Defeat the Bloodcursed Lithopod southeast of the Gloomshade Grove Beacon to collect the Citadel Gate Lever, then return to the sealed gate west of that beacon, interact with the wall mechanism, and choose YES on the PUT LEVER? prompt. The message “A gate has lifted” confirms it worked.

Citadel Gate Lever at a reference

Detail	Value
Type	Key Item
Use	Unlocks the main gate to the Citadel of Penance
Dropped by	Bloodcursed Lithopod (mini-boss)
Location	Watery ravine southeast of the Gloomshade Grove Beacon
Kill reward	Citadel Gate Lever and +1895 Glimpse
Nearby unlock	Access to the Ravaged Hideout dungeon

Where to find the Citadel Gate Lever

The lever is guarded by the Bloodcursed Lithopod, a large stone-backed, crab-like creature that lurks at the bottom of a foggy ravine. The fastest way to reach it is from the Gloomshade Grove Beacon.

Rest at the Gloomshade Grove Beacon and open your map. Head southeast toward the patch of water shown on the map, following the sloping path down the hill.

Map screen with the Gloomshade Grove Beacon marked as the starting point for the route — The map view centered on the Gloomshade Grove Beacon, your starting point for the run down to the ravine. Image credit: Cold Symmetry / via @SharkR

Run the path past the roaming enemies and drop down the ledge. You can pick up two Ventrium along the way if you want the crafting material.

Player character running through a grassy area beside a glowing red trail — The path down from the beacon runs alongside a glowing red trail past scattered enemies. Image credit: Cold Symmetry / via @SharkR

Continue down toward a waterfall and the body of water below. If you drop from the cliff edge, use Harden or an attack mid-fall to avoid taking fall damage.

Open map screen used to check position while navigating toward the ravine — A quick map check helps line up the jump across the gap near the stone pillars. Image credit: Cold Symmetry / via @SharkR

Clear the smaller worm-like and poison enemies around the water before engaging the boss. Left alive, they can drain a large chunk of your health during the fight. If you have the Troubadour’s Lute, use it to confuse them.

Fight the Bloodcursed Lithopod. It shares moves with the smaller creatures, and its clearest opening is the attack where it hunches backward before leaping at you. Parry or Deflect that lunge with your Seal to fill its break meter, then riposte to finish it.

Beating the Lithopod drops the Citadel Gate Lever and awards +1895 Glimpse. It also opens access to the nearby Ravaged Hideout dungeon if you want to explore before leaving.

Inventory menu highlighting the Citadel Gate Lever and its description — The Citadel Gate Lever in your inventory, listed as the item that unlocks the main gate to the Citadel of Penance. Image credit: Cold Symmetry / via @SharkR

How to use the lever and open the gate

With the lever in hand, head back to the sealed gate. The quickest route is again through the Gloomshade Grove Beacon. You can climb back out of the ravine, or exit to the main menu and reload to respawn at the beacon on the cliff above.

From the Gloomshade Grove Beacon, follow the cave tunnel westward. The corridor leads directly to the walls of the Citadel and the main gate.

Black-armored character running with dual weapons through a mossy rocky clearing — The cave path from the beacon opens out toward the Citadel walls and the locked gate. Image credit: Cold Symmetry / via @SharkR

Deal with the large armored guard standing in front of the gate before you interact with anything. It hits hard, so treat it like a proper duel rather than rushing past.

Armored character swinging a sword at an enemy beside a stone wall — The elite guard blocks the gate mechanism and must be cleared first. Image credit: Cold Symmetry / via @SharkR

Read the warning note on the wall if you want the context, then interact with the lever mount beside the portcullis. On the PUT LEVER? prompt, choose YES to insert the Citadel Gate Lever and pull it.

The gate rises and the on-screen message “A gate has lifted” confirms it worked. This opens the main entrance to the Citadel of Penance permanently, so you can pass through freely from now on. If the prompt still reads “None in inventory,” you have not collected the lever yet and need to return to the Bloodcursed Lithopod.

Entering the Citadel without the lever

The lever is not the only way inside. There is a shortcut from the other side of Fainweald, though it drops you into a far more dangerous spot and does not open the gate for later trips.

Start at the One-Legged Wolf Beacon in the southeastern part of Fainweald and head toward the ruins across the rope bridges. Near a clearing you will spot a coin pouch that shows a “touch” prompt instead of the usual “pick up.” Interacting with it teleports you straight into the prison cells in the lower part of the fortress. From there you break out of the cell with a normal attack and fight your way up, with the only exit being a small nook near the ramparts.

Note: This route is worth it for the Eredrim Shell. Take the elevator around the corner, head to the center of the arena, and grab the coin pouch there to trigger the Warden boss fight. Defeating the Warden rewards the Eredrim Shell, a Shell with two active abilities. Because the gate stays shut with this method, most players who want steady access still return for the Citadel Gate Lever.